Tag: Well-Ordered Language

The children get a little bored in the “off” months, and it gives them something to do.

I get a little bored in the “off” months, and it gives me something to do.

It’s fun to learn new things with zero pressure.

These two love Summer School. They just show up and look cute.

What do we do for Summer School?

There are a few things that never go away, no matter what the season, which I call Early Morning School, Morning Time, Piano, and Mid-Morning Prayer Time. These things work well for our family and provide a nice structure to the day. That’s not to say that we can’t break from them if something comes up, but rather, they are there to guide us.

Early Morning School is that time before breakfast wherein the children will just pick on each other if there’s nothing to do. So the night before, I lay out a math facts sheet and a handwriting sheet for my 2nd and 4th graders. My 6th grader gets a math facts sheet and then works on her typing skills. None of these things require my assistance, which is good, because I’m usually nursing a baby and drinking my coffee.

Morning Time is that time during breakfast when I read the Mass readings aloud and then we recite our poetry. I’ve said it before, but I like doing these two things at the breakfast table because the children are more likely to listen as food is in their mouths. Right now we’re working on Paul Revere’s Ride. We do it every summer, leading up to the 4th of July, when we’re feeling very patriotic.

Piano also never ends in the summer. We keep right on with lessons. The four older children must play through each of their songs at least 3 times after breakfast. I tried once making them play for a certain amount of time, say twenty minutes a day, but found we were terrible at keeping track of time. But for whatever reason, playing a song three times was easier to do. (And I find that the ones who like playing piano will continue to play on.)

Mid-Morning Prayer Time happens sometime in the morning when I call everyone together, and we sing a hymn and offer a prayer for our intentions.

All of these things are further detailed in my Day in the Life Series, which you can find on my sidebar under “tags,” if you’re curious.

The only other thing that I’m consciously doing for school in the summer is grammar with my three boys. We are using Classical Academic Press’s Well-Ordered Language series. This takes about twenty minutes, then we’re done for the day. I don’t have anything “scheduled” for the afternoons. After all, one must have time to splash around in a kiddie pool and climb trees.